The issue of burdensome and repetitive instructions on a single page regarding the different ways to edit a text file was discussed before. I was recently surprised to find this taking place even on the KVM installation instructions page.
I would like to suggest the following be added to the top of every guide-style page that requires editing text files:
Editing text files
In this guide [/page] we use nano [optional: link to a very quick guide, added below] as a text editor. If you prefer a graphical editor use mousepad (on XFCE) or kwrite (on KDE).
For example, instead of:
nano filename [or always sudo nano?]
use
kdesudo mousepad filename
Then, all the instructions throughout the page will only use nano instead of the repeated clause "if you are using… then… ".
To make things more friendly I wrote the following “very quick guide” mentioned above (should appear on a dedicated page, containing only that):
Nano is a popular and simple text editor in Linux. Basic usage:
- Open the file for editing by typing in terminal:
nano filename
- If the file was created by root, we need to use sudo to get proper privileges:
sudo nano filename
- If you try to edit a file that does not exist, nano will create the file.
Essential keyboard shortcuts:
- To save: CTRL-O
- To Exit: CTRL-X
- Moving the cursor is done using the arrow keys or Page Up and Page Down. Mouse click does not move the cursor.
More keyboard shortcuts:
- To delete a full line: move to that line, then press CTRL-K
- To search: press CTRL-W, then type the text you wish to find, then ENTER.
Formatting can be improved of course.
More can be added, but I think it’s unnecessary. Better keep it short. Even the search function is probably not required for the tasks users are expected to follow throughout the guides. We may add:
For the complete features, type
man nano
